Topic: Spacecraft Design Fundamentals and the Design Process

Space Systems Engineering

HOMEWORK #6

Due: One week from assigned

Type: Individual, written

Please submit in PDF format and hard copy.

Reference:

· Class lecture on Design Fundamentals

· Class lecture on System Synthesis

· Discovery_AO_2006.pdf

It is January 2006 and NASA just released the Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the Discovery Program 2006 (although you probably don’t need it for this assignment, the AO has been posted on Blackboard for your reference). NASA’s Discovery Program (http://discovery.nasa.gov/) consists of a series of competed space missions where proposing organizations are free to choose their own scientific objectives. These missions are subject to strict development schedule constraints (less than 36 months) and must be completed below a specified cost cap ($425 million FY06).

The company you work for is excited about responding to the 2006 Discovery AO. Due to your unique background, you have been selected as the project systems engineer. The Principal Investigator (PI) and their science team determined the mission needs, goals, and objectives during the months preceding the release of the AO. To further ensure that this is a mission worth pursuing, your company also used this time to perform a mission scoping exercise and develop a concept of operations. Now that the AO has been released, time is rapidly running out and your proposal must be submitted before April 5. (only about 90 days!) Your multidisciplinary design team will be meeting for the first time next week. Due to the extremely tight schedule, you need to use the team’s time wisely. You must ensure that the design process runs as smoothly as possible so that your team has the best chance of delivering a quality product in April.

Your task is to prepare a 2-3 page memo to be distributed to your team prior to next week’s kick-off meeting. Designing a spacecraft can be a daunting task and this is the first proposal that many of your team members have participated in. Others may be more comfortable dealing with the specifics of their subsystem than with issues affecting the entire spacecraft or mission. In this memo you will outline your strategy for designing the spacecraft. Specifically, your memo should focus on how you plan to start the design process and what you want the team to accomplish in the first two weeks of effort (this section should constitute at least half of what you write). This portion of the memo should address both the path you plan to take (e.g. the process) and the products/deliverables you plan to generate. In the remaining portion of the memo, discuss how your goals for the first two weeks fit into the larger design process. Also briefly mention what the next activity in the design process will be and why this is the next logical step.

IMPORTANT: This memo should not be a list of the steps in the design process or a list of the topics covered so far in this course. This includes “lists” in narrative form. The intent of this assignment is for you to think about the design process – specifically about how and where to start. As those of you who have done this before know, where and how you start is often the hardest and most important part of the design process.

HW#6—Design 1